This invention relates to a management computer, and more particularly, to a management computer in a storage area network.
It is an important requirement to provide a user with performance information serving as an index for a system management task which is ever increasing in complexity. The performance information is provided to the user by performance monitoring software of individual companies.
On the other hand, as the scale of a storage system increases in recent years, the number of targets to be managed by the management server and the quantity of information to be processed by the management server are increasing. Therefore, it is difficult for the management server to collect all pieces of the performance information on requested timings in a large-scale and complex storage environment.
A conventionally used management method is a method of equally monitoring various resources in the storage system, and collecting information and information that is unnecessary or has a lower importance along with information having a higher importance in system monitoring. As a result, as the scale of the storage system becomes large, before the collection and processing of information have been completed, timing for the next collection and processing is reached. Then, timing for collecting important information generated on an important monitoring target is lost, and a risk leading to a delay in detecting a sign of a generation of a problem, analyzing a cause of a problem, and solving the causes of the problem increases.
As a result, in a large-scale storage area network (SAN), it is necessary to select targets from which the performance information is collected, thereby monitoring the targets (namely, collecting the performance information). JP 4516306 B2 discloses a technology for, based on performance information collected from monitoring targets, automatically adjusting coverage of the targets from which the information is to be collected, and the degree of the information collection.
The technology disclosed in JP 4516306 B2 is a technology for changing the coverage of the targets of the information collection, and the degree of the information collection, of the monitoring targets and other monitoring targets relating to those monitoring targets in terms of performance, based on the performance information on the monitoring targets. As a result, the coverage of the monitoring targets, and the degree of the monitoring are changed in the storage system.
According to the technology disclosed in JP 4516306 B2, the monitoring system focuses on monitoring the monitoring targets the performance of which is not in a steady state, and other monitoring targets affecting the monitoring targets the performance of which is not in a steady state, and decreases the quantity and the interval of collecting the performance information on the monitoring targets the performance of which is in a steady state. Then, the monitoring system disclosed in JP 4516306 B2 consequently can perform preferred monitoring in a case where the number of targets for monitoring the performance information becomes enormous.